Travel warnings widen as SARS spreads in Asia

TAIPEI, Taiwan — The World Health Organization yesterday extended its warning against unnecessary travel to Taiwan's beleaguered capital city, along with the mainland Chinese areas of Tianjin and Inner Mongolia, as SARS continued to inflict economic and social damage across Asia.

The new warning expanded the alert beyond advisories against travel to the Chinese areas of Beijing, Hong Kong, Guangdong province and Shanxi province, which have been the focus of the outbreak of the pneumonialike severe acute respiratory syndrome.

The world death toll from SARS reached 506 yesterday, with 7,053 infections reported. Russia threatened to restrict travel to China as that country reported its first case of SARS, and North Korea, long isolated from the international community, sought $1.5 million from the Red Cross to help prevent incursions of the virus.

Meanwhile, Thai Airways today promised to pay $100,000 compensation to any passenger who gets infected with SARS while flying on its aircraft. Chairman Thanong Bidaya told reporters the airline is confident that its preventive measures are of such high standards that no passenger would contract SARS while on its flight.

Compounding concerns about the SARS outbreak, Cambodian officials reported the deaths of seven people from an unidentified form of pneumonia in two impoverished regions near the country's border with Vietnam. WHO and Cambodian officials said there is no evidence to indicate the deaths are linked to SARS.

Cases build in Taiwan

But the worst news came from Taipei, where officials reported at least six new cases of SARS that could not be traced to foreign travel or to other SARS victims. Such instances of so-called community infection have been a harbinger of much larger outbreaks in other countries affected by the disease.

Authorities also were investigating the death of a 63-year-old man in Kaohsiung — the first Taiwanese SARS case outside Taipei.

Taiwan has 132 probable SARS cases and 14 deaths. It trails only mainland China and Hong Kong with its SARS caseload.

"It is a grim situation at the moment," said Dr. Lee Ming-liang, who was recently appointed to head a SARS task force. "Our most important task at this point is to track down the sources of community infections."

The increases have been especially bitter for Taiwan, which has imposed some of the most draconian measures of any country in its efforts to control the disease.

Authorities require all passengers on trains and buses to wear masks, and visitors to buildings with more than 100 workers must have their temperatures taken before entering. Taiwan also is imposing 10-day quarantines on all visitors from China, Hong Kong, Singapore and Toronto — a step that is devastating its economy.

Enforcing quarantine

Taiwanese President Chen Shui-bian told his cabinet last night he would order the army and police to take a more active role in enforcing the quarantine.

"No other country has imposed such restrictive measures, but it seems they are not very effective, and people are frustrated," said Andrew Yang, of the Chinese Council of Advanced Policy Studies, a Taipei think tank.

The initial assessment of a WHO epidemiological team criticized the country's early efforts at containment. "There is some concern that they are not taking proper infection-control measures and that, when a case is identified, they do not have the procedures to make sure that person is isolated," said WHO's Maria Cheng.

Mainland China reported 146 new infections and five deaths yesterday, bringing the total there to 4,698 cases and 224 fatalities. Included in the total was the first reported death in Shanghai, China's largest city.

To remedy mounting economic losses inflicted by SARS, China's cabinet decided to offer tax cuts and lower licensing fees to the hardest-hit industries, including aviation, restaurants, tourism and taxi companies. Beijing will reduce the rental fees taxi drivers pay to their companies by 50 percent.

WHO officials in China turned their attention to the country's poorer provinces, dispatching four experts to Hebei province, which surrounds Beijing. The team will inspect hospitals, talk to medical workers and visit rural areas.

China's difficulties have engendered concern in countries sharing a border with it. In Moscow, health officials said Russia had its first probable SARS case, a man hospitalized in the border town of Blagoveshchensk. Although his diagnosis has not been confirmed by laboratory tests, Russian aviation authorities ordered airlines to suspend reservations on flights to China, Hong Kong and Taiwan and to be prepared to cancel all flights.

North Korea has no SARS cases, but it sought aid from the Red Cross because of its long border with China and its deteriorating health-care system.

Information from The Associated Press is included in this report.